No security pact until demands are met: Karzai

The Afghan President Hamid Karzai will not allow any of his ministers to sign a security pact with the US unless key demands are met.

On Tuesday, the US Secretary of State John Kerry aid the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) could be signed by Mr Karzai's Defence Minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, effectively circumventing the President.

The agreement will shape the post-2014 US military presence in Afghanistan.

US officials say without an agreement by year's end, they may be forced to consider a total withdrawal of troops, leaving Afghan forces to fight the Taliban insurgency on their own.

However, Mr Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi said the Afghan leader remains committed to his two main demands.

"President Karzai wants an absolute end to the military operations on Afghan homes and a meaningful start to the peace process, and we are certain that the Americans can practically do that within days or weeks," he said.

"As long as these demands are not accepted, President Karzai will not authorise any minister to sign it."

Last month an assembly of Afghan elders, known as a Loya Jirga, endorsed the security pact, but in closing remarks Mr Karzai suggested he might not sign it until after national elections next April.

He also said his signing was dependent on several new demands, not raised during year-long and at times fraught negotiations.

There are 47,000 US forces in Afghanistan.

The US has been in discussions with Afghan officials about keeping a residual force of about 8,000 troops after the end of the NATO combat mission next year.